If you think the mall protests are about the police, Ferguson, Mike Brown, or Darren Wilson, you could be wrong.
For some, Mike Brown is a pawn. The protests are mere opportunities to exploit.

Travis Martin, a protester who was at the bowling alley and the Justice Center, said he didn't think that activist leaders had done enough planning and promotion for an event at the Galleria.

“I think the main organizers weren't so focused on anti-capitalism. They are more focused on justice for Mike Brown,” said Martin, 27, a student at the Washington University School of Law. (source: stltoday.com)

I admit that I admire people who take to the streets to express and promote their point of view, even if I don't agree with them. Demonstration, protest, and even civil disobedience are political tools. Used well for just causes, these tools build great communities.

When people honestly and openly use these tools, democracy works. It's okay for people to disagree, but the partisans must be forthright. When protests drive an honest debate, the community or society can choose a course. Protests can initiate debates that matter. But only when the protests are transparent.

When people hide in the shadows of a larger protest, hoping to hijack emotions to destroy the greatest engine for equality, wealth, and advancement in human history, they do not advance democracy; they advance a lie.

Now that Travis Martin has exposed the hidden anti-market ends of the Mike Brown protests, the organizers must purge their ranks of the agitators. If the organizers permit the anti-market agitators to stay, then we are free to call the movement a fraud.